2004 Cooper S, 59000 miles - but 5 owners?

[Monkidoodle]

Hi all,

I'm looking to take the plunge into Cooper S ownership and I've found this one that fits my budget - it's an '04, sold by Hennebry Mini Sales in Littlehampton for £5699 with:

Excellent Condition 3 Door Hatchback, Petrol, Manual, Mini Cooper Chilli Pack, Satellite Navagation, Air Conditioning, Half Leather Interior, C/D Radio, Electric Door Mirrors, Body Coloured Bumpers, Multiple Airbags, Front Electric Windows, Height Adjustable Drivers Seat, Power Assisted Steering, Rear Wiper, Remote Control Central Locking, Alloy Wheels, Fog Lights, ABS, Trip Computer, Full Service History, MOT

(Sorry about that - I can't paste links!)

I've emailed the dealer to ask about the ownership history and he's said that it's previously had 5 owners. To my (very) untrained and slightly suspicious mind this sounds like quite a lot, so I asked the dealer for more information as he has said that he knew the last three owners. His response was that two of them simply needed something with a bigger boot as they couldn't get pushchairs in, and the other reluctantly let it go after 7 months as they needed to reduce down to one car.

This sounds reasonable to me but would this make alarm bells ring for anyone else?

Sorry for the stupid question but I've no experience in buying used and want to save myself a 90-mile round trip if this looks like a bad idea!

Cheers in advance!

[iain cooper]

I would agree that 5 owners in 8 years is not ideal and would normally suggest that the car has had problems, and previous owners decided to get rid.

and you really must take anything a salesman says with a pinch of salt.

would it be possible for you to contact any of the previous owners for a chat about the car ? a few phone calls may make your mind up.

certainly looks quite nice on the website, but you would need to actually see it to judge.

my advice would be to not rush into anything as there are plenty cars out there and some with one/two owners.

Iain


ps also a big thing with a car of this age is a decent warranty

[pigro]

I bought an 03 cooper s with jcw pack and every possoble extra 10 months ago. it had 65000 miles and 5 previous owners, and I paid £5700 for it, so pretty similar to your candidate car.

By all means be sceptical (I was) but give it a good hard test drive and be willing to forget the owner history if it looks and feels right. I bought on that basis and 10 months/10K miles of fault-free driving later it was definitely the right choice. That said I did insist they threw in a decent warranty (3 months silver cover from that lot that Quentin Wilson promotes) even though I ended up not needing it.

[logan_manc]

I personally wouldn't worry about the amount of owners it's had , I'm the 8th on my 52 plate cooper s . Just check the service history all checks out and remember its a used car so things might go wrong with it regardless of the amount of previous owners .

[Tigger, Eeyore & Roo]

It's a car that would normally change hands frequently.

Firstly, it's an enthusiast's car and while the owner might love it, they're often looking for their next step up within 6 months!

Secondly, your salesman's right - it's very easy for a family to outgrow the space available. We thought we'd keep our S for ever. It lasted for 3 years until we were forced into something bigger.

I wouldn't worry about the number of owners, buy on condition and service history.

[lblack]

I bought a BMW 123d - which in 2.5 years had 4 previous owners. I was stunned, but as said sometimes the car isn't the right fit, in my case the car was pre-registered to BMW for 3 months and then sold to another person for 3 months. Once I bought it I completed a V888 and sent it with £5 to the DVLA and they sent me copies of every piece of paperwork ever submitted to them, all you have to tell the DVLA it is for your personal use. I was a lot happier it wasn't a wrong choice after that as I could see the History. As others have said not a sign of a bad car - you could have one owner who has completed cained the car or 5 people who cherished it. I wouldn't worry too much.

[Paul@1320]

If you buy it, take it to a MINI specialist for a health check and a inspection, they will the be able to tell you anything that is wrong with the car or might need looking at in the future, so if you have a warranty with the car you can get this corrected quickly.